White fallow deer, Eifel National Park, Germany | Image: Georg May

The gorgeous photos seen here are entries in the 2015 Sony World Photography Awards Competition. The contest has four sections, depending on the entrants' photography experience: Professional, for pro photogs only; Open, for amateur enthusiasts; Student Focus, for students of photography; and Youth Award, for entrants under the age of 19. Each branch of competition is divided into a number of topic categories. Winners receive international exhibits and media exposure, as well as publication the annual Sony World Photography Awards book.  

See more entries here. Visit the World Photography Organisation website to enter or learn more about the competition. -Via My Modern Met


Hindus throw colored powder to celebrate Lathmar Holi Festival | Image: Ioulia Chvetsova

A Hindu monk on a morning walk | Image: Jubair Bin Iqbal 

Designers at Joint London decided to offer Santa a new, hip wardrobe. Their series "Designer x Santa" outfits the big guy with designer-inspired clothing. While St. Nick is looking sharp, I hope he warns the public of any costume changes before he goes sliding down chimneys. Better safe than sorry, Santa!

Prints of stylin' Santa are available for download as Christmas cards here.  See the rest of Santa's new wardrobe here. 

Source: crazy frankensein

Driving around and checking out Christmas light displays is a popular pastime during the holiday season. One thing that's interesting is the sense of individuality in each display. Every design lends insight into the personalities of the people who create them. But is there a point in which the decorator goes overboard? These homes have nary a five-foot expanse of their exteriors sans décor. What do you think?  

See a collection of houses decorated to the hilt for Christmas here. 


Source: izismile

Source: ugly christmas lights / Mandy Bird

YouTube Link

Back in July we featured the first trailer of Mad Max: Fury Road, which was shown at Comic Con San Diego. Trailer number two was recently released, in which fans of the franchise are treated to a better look at the action. Sure looks like a barnburner. The film is directed by George Miller and stars Tom Hardy and Charlize Theron. It's slated for release on May 15, 2015. -Via Gizmodo

Home theater/swimming pool combo | Source: s-media-cache-ec7.pinimg.com

You win a ridiculously high amount of dough in the lottery. You collect your winnings and decide to build the house of your dreams. What kind of amenities would you include? Are you a wine or spirits enthusiast enough to build a grand wine cellar? Are you a swimmer who would build indoor/outdoor pools? A hippophile who would build stables for horses? A bibliophile desirous of room for your large collection? The endless possibilities are enough to make one's head spin. 

Here is a list of 35 items that would fit the bill. Even if some of them wouldn't necessarily be on your list, I think most of us can agree that it wouldn't exactly hurt to have them.
 


Glass door in kitchen floor leading to underground wine cellar |  Source: buzzfeed.com


Office with space-saving bookshelves | Source: peerflix.com


Waterslide in bedroom closet leads to pool below | Source: nation.towergaming.com

Image: James Shadle

These photographs of animals migrating are simply beautiful. Some of them, like the photo of white ibis migration shown above, look like abstract paintings, with the colors and shapes of the animals flowing together to form a pattern. There's something profound about the sight of so many animals instinctively and simultaneously driven to move en masse. 

See a great user-submitted collection of migration photographs here. 


Image: Eduardo Lopez Negrete

Image: Nicole Cambré


Image: Max Orchard

Redditor Proteon posted this photo of a gorgeous polished meteorite sphere. Another user explained that it was a type of meteorite called pallasite, which is "a mixture of iron-nickel metal and olivine, a crystal that makes up the majority of Earth's mantle." Several posters estimated it to be worth #10,000 to $12,000 in value. Provided that information is correct, I need to add that to my Christmas gift wish list. -Via Science Dump

Image via Chinavasion


I remember when the iPhone 5 was released and some people made cracks about those who would be flashy enough to buy the gold version. But that phone's got nothin' on the Golden Buddha, shown above. Some people have been known to be bling-blinded by the Buddha and had to seek medical care. They didn't even have their sight long enough to dial emergency services on that baby. But seriously, the phone's painted with 24-karat gold and features a chunk of jade on the front. People in China have paid $1,750 to worship that phone.

Other men who were interested in a macho statement purchased the phone below. With a space for real cigarettes, it also has a sneaky 3MP camera on its side. It just screams "rugged spy."

To see more bizarre cell phone models, visit this link.  

Image via Technabob

Chinese prisoners who are made to work for the government are hardly hammering out license plates or braille books. If you go to the pen in China, you may just find yourself forced to do menial work — in a video game environment.

Estimates say 100,000 Chinese prisoners work as video game farmers. They play games in 12-hour-long shifts in which they complete tasks that earn virtual currency. Once the virtual funds are turned over to the prison, they are sold to gamers for cash. 

It's even possible to be paid for this type of prison work, and paid well. Some are said to earn up to $700 dollars a day. But that's the good news. The bad news is that they can be beaten if they don't acquire enough virtual currency to meet their quotas.

Read about more people who do bizarre jobs for the Chinese government — including phantom work and porn judges — here. 

This baby capybara, the first capybara birth in ten years at the Houston Zoo, is a foodie. Only a few days after being born, he was eagerly snacking on solid foods, sampling every kind in his mom's food bowl. He even decided to get in the bowl, just to be first in line for new treats. 

The baby, named Mr. Pibb, is the son of mom Sunkist and dad Pop. It really doesn't get much cuter than that.

Read more about capybaras and see additional pictures of Mr. Pibb and his family at Zooborns. 

Images: Houston Zoo

Grant Snider of Incidental Comics presents us with a handy map of the complex called Inferiority. It's a good thing he does, too, because it's a large territory that isn't easily navigated. If one is able to break through the insecurity fence on their way to the stream of consciousness, they had better beware of the slippery slope. I've fallen into that pool before, and the water isn't so nice.   

Stanley Kubrick, who thought that the concept of nuclear war was ludicrous, decided the subject was best handled satirically in a farce. His 1964 film Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb starred Peter Sellers and a wonderful ensemble cast that included George C. Scott, Keenan Wynn, Sterling Hayden, Slim Pickens and James Earl Jones. It's now widely regarded as a classic. 

These shots give us a look at Sellers, Kubrick and cast on the set. Some of the captures are so intimate you can almost hear famously headstrong director Kubrick and comic actor Sellers (notorious for acting up practically wherever he went) trading jokes and barbs.

See more on-set photos and view a documentary on the making of Dr. Strangelove here.  
 

Sellers and Kubrick on a smoke break


Kubrick and his camera


Slim Pickens and the nuclear bomb

Rebecca Szeto is a San Francisco-based artist who takes old, stained paintbrushes and transforms them into luminous women of the renaissance. Szeto hand carves the handle ends of the brushes and lets the fringes mimic their gowns. Szeto explains,

“These works play with notions of re-forming beauty and value. I use humble, end-of-life, mass-produced materials inspired by my experience as a faux finisher.”

See more photos of Szeto's wooden ladies here, and visit her website to see more of her projects. 

The Beholder | Source: imgur.com

This fun collection of hats has something for everyone, men, women, kids and infants. Like a cool umbrella can minimize the gloom of a rainy day, these warm and funny knits have potential to reduce the sting of the coldest winter.

See the entire collection here. 

Source: Etsy.com


Cthulhu Ski Hat | Source: Etsy.com

Source: coley_ycp


These letters from kids to Santa (though one suspicious kid wrote to "Santa") bring a smile. Some of us may have flashbacks to the days we looked forward to the big, jolly guy taking the time to visit our very homes, stuffing himself down the chimney and eating the cookes left there for him, even though he was probably already full.

Though the items kids are asking for have changed, the earnest attempts at an exchange with him — the chance to tell him one's wishes — have not. 

See the entire collection of kids' letters to Santa here.
 

Source: gololz.com


Source: imgur.com